Loom feeler



April 2, 1929. J. TARANTO 1,707,500

" L oou FEELER 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed sept. 19, 1927 InventarJoleul'urauta Aprill 2, 1929. 1 TARANTQ 1,707,500 LOOM FEHLER 19. 192'?Sheets-Sheet 2 f/ffa?" huren/tor eolzn Tamale IApril 2', 1929. L TARANTO1,707,500

LOOM FEHLER 25 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 1.9, 192'? O ,NH I o 39 3j Z0gll zo Il 34' /L 35 l 37 Ja/mmor Patented Apr. 2, 1929.

UNlT'fED STATES PATENT ermee.

JOHN TARANTO, 0F wAITHAM, MAssAciiUsnTTs.

Looivr FEnLnR.

Appiiati'on ined september 19, 1927. serial-N0. 220,298.

been devis-ed for the several standard makes of looms now in use.

My present invention is an improvement upon existing feelers of thistype, and aims to provide a feeler which will be capable vof thatsensitivenessV and adjustability which conditions of modern weavingrequire without, however, being unduly complicated as to structure;which will be positive and reliable in operation; simple ofVconstruction retractor removed.

and installation, either as standard. equipment, or as replacement forexisting feelers; and which will have a constant tendency towards asafety position so that it may yield into such position of safety in theevent that the bobbin or the shuttle should improperly Contact thefeeler, and by suchcontact call for a replenishment of filling beforethe filling on the active bobbin has in fact been su'bstantiallyexhausted, lthus resultingl in a mispick.

The construction and operation of my feeler is described and shown inthe accompanying specification and drawings, throughout which `likereference numerals are correspondingly applied, and the characteristicfeatures of novelty areA particularly-pointed out in the appendedclaims.

inthe drawings: v

Fig. 1 is a front elevation `of a ,feeler in accordance with myinvention.

Fig. 2 is an end view thereof.

Figs. 3 and f1- are detail views of the feeler itself removed.

Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of the feeler Fig. 7 is a fragment-aryplan view'illustrating the action of thefeeler when a condition ofsuificientfillin g exists on the active bobbin. Y Y

Fig. 8 is a similarview illustrating the action when a condition ofinsuflicient filling exists on the active bobbin.

Fig. 9 is a section on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

Fig. -10 is a fragmentary detail particularly showing the bunter.

Fig. l1 -is a front view partly broken 'n away, particularly showing`the release mechanisrn for the filled bobbin, and

Figs. 12an`d 13 are sections on approximately theline 12-12 of Fig. 8and showing thesuccessive positions of the parts inl effecting a changeof bobbins in the shuttle.

My feeler may be4 described as a sliding and side slipping feeler, asdistinguished from the usual pivoted feeler. lt consists of ahorizontally disposed base plate 1 having an attachingjweb 2 dependingvertically therefrom. The web 2 is horizontally slotted as at 8 near itsjuncture with theplate l f for a purpose whichI will be explained morefully hereinafter, and verticallyy slotted as' at l to receive aclamping stud 5 by means'of which the plate adjustablyfastened'to theusual bracket G at the right hand front end of the loom frame 7.

In plan, the plate 1 is Generally rectangular, but is laterally extendedas shown at 8 at its back inner edge to provide a' slideway. Beginningat its front edge the plate is slotted as at 9. This slot vextendsgenerally parallel to the outer lateral edge of the plate towards therear edge of the plate but terminates short of said rearedge.

Mounted in said slot 9 for both 'backward and Aforward sliding movementand for limitedarcual swingingl movement is the ren versely bentr endl() of a feeler arm l11', which is extended beyond the rear edgeofthefplate and is coiled upon itself as indicated at 12 and terminatesin a serrated feeler finger 13 vdisposed 'for periodic entrance throughthe slots 14 and 15 of the shuttle binder 1G and shuttle Syrespectively, v-whensaid slots are the filling F on the active bobbinBcarried byI said shuttle.

The position of the feeler arm l11 in the slot 9 is controlled by,ymeans of an adjustment lever 17 whichis adjustably and .pivotally heldat 18 in the 'slot and is adapted' to be vmoved into predeterminedposition with reference to the bent end 10 of said arm in. the initialsetting of the parts.

The arm 11 is spring tensionedl as at 19, and is guided in anelongated-slot 2O formed in an upstanding lip 21 at the-rear edge of theplate 1.-V This lip is extended along` the lateral extension 8 of thevplate `and with a shorter upstanding lip 22 formed on the opposite edgeof said extension defines a channeled guideway 23 for an actuating slide24 which is adapted to be actuated by the feeler arm whenever acondition of insufficient filling exists on the active bobbin B.

The slide 24 is hooked or otherwise connected as at 25 with a bladeactuating piece 26, which is adapted to be moved, against the action ofa light coil spring, whenever a condition of insuflicient filling on theactive bobbin B exists, into the path. of movement of a rocking blade 28which is pivoted intermediately to a reciprocal rod 29 and is pivotallyconnected at its inner end as at 3() with the bobbin release mechanism,indicat ed generally at 31, which controls the successive supply offilled bobbins B to the shuttle from the magazine M of the loom, thisblade 28 in the normal operation ofthe mechanism rocking idly about itspivot 30 the rod 29 reciprocates.

The upper edge of the member 26 and the lowerI edge of the adjacent freeend of the blade 28 are serrated, as indicated at 32 and 33,respectively.

lisposed within the slot 3 of the web 2 for backward and forward slidingmoveyment under certain conditions, is the arm 34 of a lay-actuated stud35. The arm 34 projects beneath the plate 1 and lies rearwardl-y of theunder portion of the reversely bent end 10 of the feeler arm 11 so toact as a retractor for `said feeler whenever the stud 35 is actuated.

Operated from the rocker blade 28 whenever a condition of insufficientfilling Von the active bobbin B exists, is the usual trip mechanism forthe transferrer arm or hammer 36, which acts to transfer the filledbobbins successively from the bobbin magazine to the shuttle. Such tripmechanism includes a pivoted bunter 37 normally disposed out of linewith the dagger 38 of the lay beam L of the loom, but adapted to bedrawn up into alinement with said dagger by the trip rod 39, so as to becontacted by the dagger whenever a spent bobbin is to be replaced.

1n operation, the feeler finger 13 enters the slot of the shuttle andfeels for the filling on the active'bobbin B at each forward swing ofthe lay beam. If the bobbin is full, the filling F simply slides thefeeler forwardly along the base plate 1 as shown in full lines Fig. 7against the tension of the coil spring 19 which returns the feeler toposition to repeat this operation as the lay beam makes .its returnmotion. Yln this action the blade28 is rocked idly by the rod 29.

TWhen the filling on the active bobbin B is exhausted, or substantiallyexhausted, however, the feeler finger 13 upon contacting said bobbin asthe lay beam moves forwardly is caused to swing in the direction of thearrow A in Fig. 8, contacting the slide 24 and shifting the member 26into the path of rocking movement of the free end of the blade 28,whereupon downward movement of the rod 29 results in a downward pullbeing exerted on the pivot 30 with consequent actuation of the tripmechanism 31 and upward movement of the rod 39 which brings the bunter37 into alinement with the dagger 38 on the lay beam (Fig. 12) so thatthe spent bobbin may be replaced by a filled bobbin.

This change is .not effected however until the lay has made its returnswing towards the back of the loom and has again swung forwardly towardsthe bunter. During this swing of the lay, the light coil spring 27returns the slide 24 and feeler 13 to original position. @n the nextforward swing of the lay, the dagger 38 contacts the bunter 37 (Fig. 13)moving the feeler retractor 35 outwardly 12) in the slot 9 and therebypositively withdrawing the feeler from 'the path of the shuttle, andswinging the bobbin transfer arm or hammer 36 downwardly (Fig. 13) toforce the released filled bobbin B into the shuttle which has now beenreturned home to the shuttle box at this end of the loom, and therebyeject the empty bobbin.

ln the return motion of the lay, the parts are automatically restored totheir original positions in readiness to repeat the operation when thefeeler again indicates an empty bobbin condition.

Should, for any reason, the shuttle itself or any other part of themechanism contact the feeler in such a way as to tend to swing thefeeler' in a direction away from instead of towards the slide 24 andblade 28, as might possibly be the case where the feeler has for anyreason been shifted in an inoperative direction or where the shuttle hasnot properly entered the shuttle box, the mounting of the feelerdescribed permits the feeler either to pivot about the inner end of themember 17, if it in contact with said member, or to pivot about itsreversely bent portion disposed within the slot 9, if it is not inContact with said member 17, in the direction of the arrow A in Fig. 7away from the slide 24 as aforesaid, this motion being an idle motionand obviously without effect on the blade 28, so that mis-picks areprevented under such conditions in that the mechanism would not falselyindicate an empty bobbin condition when a matter of fact no suchcondition exists.

1 appreciate that various modifications in the construction andarrangement of my feeler mechanism will be made as conditions require,and I regard all such modifications as within the perview of myinvention, if within the limits o-f the appended claims.

What I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A device for operating the automatic weft replenishing mechanism of.a loom,

comprising a base plate having a slot therein normal to the path ofmovement of the active bobhin, al springtensioned feeler overlying saidplate'and having a mounting end disposed through said slot and bent he-lneath said plate and permitting said feeler movement in a path normal tothe path of the active bobbin and side slipping movement in two oppositedirections With respect to its path of normal movement, `side slippingmovement ot' said feeler in one direction beingl adapted to operate theWe'lf-replenishing l to the pathof movement of the active bohhin and aslot at its` rear edge parallel to such path, a spring-tensioned feeleroverlying said plate and having a feeler end guided through saidparallelslot and a mounting 'end disposed through said normal slot andbent loeneath said plate, the engagement of said 1pent 'end in saidnormal slot permitting said feeler movement 'in a path normal to thepath of the active bohbin andiside slipping move-` mentintwo oppositedirections With respect to its pathotnormal movement,vside slippingmovement of saidfeeler in one direction vbeing adapted tooperate theweft-replenishing mechanism and side slipping movement oi" said eeler inthe opposite direction being for purposes of safety, and an adjustinglever pivotedin said slot for controlling the position of said'feeler.

In testimony whereof I aliX my signaturev y JOHN TARANTO.

